More than 300 million people travelled internationally<\/a> during the first three months of 2025, up 5% from the same period a year earlier, according to UN Tourism.<\/p>\n LuLu Exchange<\/a> encountered an operating challenge when it set out to build a multi-currency card programme in the UAE.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although the product launched in one market, the architecture questions apply much more widely. <\/p>\n Any institution building a similar product needs a clear operating layer to coordinate the programme across the systems and partners involved.<\/p>\n Why Several Wallets Change the Architecture<\/p>\n One the one hand, a conventional card usually checks one primary balance before approving a transaction.<\/p>\n A multi-currency programme on the other, may have several live wallets, each carrying its own balance, spending limits, pricing and fee rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before authorisation, the card platform needs to identify which wallet should fund the purchase and what should happen when that balance falls short.<\/p>\n Most financial institutions can already source the individual components as issuers, processors, FX providers, settlement partners and reconciliation tools are readily available.<\/p>\n The difficulty however, lies in the logic between them.<\/p>\n The fragmented-stack diagram shows how those components can become separated across several providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Issuing connects to wallet management, processing handles authorisation, and an FX provider manages currency conversion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Settlement and reconciliation may operate elsewhere, leaving the financial institution to manage the handoffs between them.<\/p>\n Every handoff introduces another dependency. <\/p>\n Adding a currency can require changes across the wider card programme, not just the wallet itself.<\/p>\n When those updates sit with different providers, a relatively routine product decision can turn into a much larger technology project.<\/p>\n When Every Change Becomes a Project<\/p>\n LuLu Exchange had encountered that fragmentation before.<\/p>\n Previous attempts relied on separate processors, issuing infrastructure, FX providers and settlement systems. <\/p>\n Each component performed its own function, although the company lacked one operating layer to manage the logic across the programme.<\/p>\n At the company\u2019s transaction volumes, the arrangement placed a ceiling on how far the product could develop. <\/p>\n Introducing another currency could require a new integration, while adjusting a transaction limit or fee became a coordination exercise involving several vendors.<\/p>\n Scaling meant taking on more operational complexity alongside higher transaction volumes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were looking for the right partner to support launching our multi-currency cards, and Stitch clicked right away,\u201d said Joseph Cleetus, Vice President of Business Transformation at LuLu Exchange.<\/p>\n Cleetus said Stitch<\/a> worked closely with LuLu Exchange\u2019s teams and helped the company manage the external stakeholders involved in bringing the programme to market.<\/p>\n One Operating Layer Instead of Several<\/p>\n Stitch consolidated issuing, processing, FX, ledger management and reconciliation within one operating environment.<\/p>\n A common data model gave LuLu Exchange a shared view of balances and transaction activity, while a consistent set of APIs allowed programme rules to be managed without maintaining separate connections for every function.<\/p>\n The architecture diagram shows processing and FX connected with wallet management on one side, while card-scheme connectivity, settlement and reconciliation operate on the other. <\/p>\n A ledger underneath them maintains the programme\u2019s record of balances and transaction movements.<\/p>\n External institutions remain part of the arrangement. <\/p>\n The bank sponsor and payment networks continue performing their respective functions, while Stitch coordinates the card, wallets and transaction logic across those relationships.<\/p>\n A common operating layer also gives the product team more control over how the card behaves. <\/p>\n Currencies, fees, transaction limits and wallet priorities can be configured within the programme rather than distributed across several vendor systems.<\/p>\n What Financial Institutions Need to Decide<\/p>\n Architecture decisions determine how much control a product team retains after launch.<\/p>\n An institution needs to know whether currencies, limits and pricing can be changed through configuration, or whether each update will require engineering work, vendor approval and another release. <\/p>\n The answer affects how quickly the programme can respond when a new travel corridor becomes commercially relevant or customer behaviour changes.<\/p>\n Funding logic also deserves the same scrutiny. <\/p>\n When the matching wallet does not contain enough money, the programme needs a clear rule for which balance should be used next and how much of the purchase requires conversion.<\/p>\n The decision shapes the customer experience, affects the institution\u2019s FX economics and determines what its operations team must later reconcile.<\/p>\n Maintaining a reliable source of truth is just as important, because every system involved needs to record the transaction consistently.<\/p>\n Without a reliable source of truth, operations staff may have to trace a mismatch across several systems after the customer has already completed the purchase.<\/p>\n How the Card Chooses a Currency Wallet<\/p>\n Suppose a customer makes a RM100 purchase with only RM70 remaining in their euro wallet.<\/p>\n Declining the payment would be the easiest response for a platform designed around a single balance. <\/p>\n A multi-currency programme can instead check whether another wallet should fund the RM30 shortfall.<\/p>\n Stitch calls this priority-based wallet dipping.<\/p>\n Customers arrange their currency wallets in a preferred order. When the matching balance runs short, the platform checks the next available wallet and converts only the amount required to complete the purchase. <\/p>\n One authorisation can therefore draw from more than one currency balance without asking the customer to move money manually before paying.<\/p>\n Once approved, the transaction updates the relevant wallets and ledger accounts. <\/p>\n Settlement and reconciliation later confirm that the programme\u2019s records match the information received from the payment network and settlement partners.<\/p>\n Customers only see a completed purchase, while LuLu Exchange has to ensure every movement behind it is recorded correctly.<\/p>\n Launch Tests the Operating Model<\/p>\n![\"Multi-Currency](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Multi-Currency-Card-A-Fragmented-Stack.webp\")
<\/a>Photo taken from \u201cHow LuLu Exchange Built and Ambitious Multi-Currency Card Program in the UAE\u201d case study page 3.<\/p>\n![\"Joseph](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Joseph-Cleetus-e1785822465994-150x150.png\")
<\/a>Joseph Cleetus<\/p>\n![\"Multi-Currency](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Multi-Currency-Card-One-Platform-Every-Component.webp\")
<\/a>Photo taken from \u201cHow LuLu Exchange Built and Ambitious Multi-Currency Card Program in the UAE\u201d case study page 6.<\/p>\n